Introduction

Carmel College Wildflower Meadow Blog


As part of the ongoing development of the College buildings and facilities, an important aspect of the programme is to encourage biodiversity in the area. As identified by the initial surveys conducted in preparation for the building programme, the College site was assessed to be of ‘extremely low ecological value’. Although there were green spaces within the college grounds, they were managed to the detriment of the potential for biodiversity in the college. Basically, there were no areas where a rich range of flora and fauna could become established within the College environment – to all intent purposes, the College was a ‘desert’.

Therefore, the challenge is to create habitats within the College grounds which will not only encourage a wide variety of species to visit the site but also allow them to establish themselves within the grounds.

It is hoped that the creation of the Carmel Wildflower Meadow will enable us achieve this. The plan is to create an area that will include a wide range of wildflower habitats including open meadowland, a wetland area and various trees and shrubs. This in turn, we hope will attract a number of flying insects, birds and small mammals. In the future, we hope to establish an apiary to help encourage bee populations which have recently been affected by falling numbers due to Colony Collapse Disorder and the Varroa Destructor Mite.

Not only will the project be important in raising the biodiversity status of the College, it will also offer a number of educational opportunities for subjects such as Geography, Biology, Art and with the Essential Skills Department. It will also contribute to the whole College community as the project will be maintained by students for students and will help promote sustainability to the next generation of young people.

Follow the Meadow Progress